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More than 100 students plagiarized homework at Alamo Heights High School

December 7, 2016

More than 100 students plagiarized answers to their homework at Alamo Heights High School in two large-scale incidents just before Thanksgiving break, according to school officials.

A letter from Principal Cordell Jones to parents sent Wednesday that 38 juniors in a U.S. History class and 90 freshmen in an English I class were involved in the incidents.

Both cases involved one student finding the answers online and then likely dispersing that website to many others, said Frank Alfaro, assistant superintendent for secondary education at Alamo Heights ISD.

“My sense is whoever it was that noticed it sent it to one person or multiple people and that multiplied pretty quickly,” he said.

Jones’ letter acknowledged concerns about the violation of academic integrity and said he would welcome feedback from the community.

“I understand (this) is a difficult time for many,” he said in the email. “I hope that you understand that we are sympathetic to everyone involved, as we care deeply about your children. We are committed to using these situations as teachable moments for our students and for our staff so that we can move forward and grow from this.”

Students were disciplined by being prohibited from participating in extracurricular activities’ public performances for three weeks, but they are allowed to continue participating. For example, if an athlete were involved, he or she could continue practicing but would not be allowed to play in a game.

If the students had self-reported the violation, it would have been two weeks instead of three.

No information was provided about any of the students involved in the violation; it was not known whether any of the students were athletes or what kind of extracurricular activities they might be involved in.